The Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan is a National Transport Authority’s initiative taking place over 5 years (2022 – 2026 inclusive) to invest in the provision of new and enhanced public transport services to rural areas and between villages and towns across Ireland.
Connecting Ireland identifies and plans to meet the need for public transport from rural areas and meet the demand to travel between villages and towns. Any area of Ireland outside of cities (e.g. Dublin, Cork, and Galway) and large towns (e.g. Drogheda, Navan, Kilkenny City) is in scope.
Our planned improvements consist of:
o New and enhanced traditional fixed-route bus services between places, operating to published timetables, and stopping at designated stops en route to serve intermediate destinations,
o New and improved demand responsive services working variable routes and times depending on who books to use them, linking less populated areas into the network, are also under consideration.
On regional routes between villages and towns we will put attractive timetables in place that will suit you, rather than expecting you to adapt your life around inadequate services.
In designing timetables we consider the following objectives:
o Increase frequency of services on existing routes to attract more usage,
o Ensure that less populous areas where demand for service is low get at least a useful level of service,
o Design useful timetables for Monday-Friday, Saturday and Sunday based on the following:
Catering for those working, shopping and visiting a town and living a distance away,
Suiting the traditional length of a working day or a typical shopping trip, providing opportunities where demand warrants to shop / socialise into the evening,
Serve all the major attractions a town has to offer, e.g. Public Health Centre, Hospital, Shopping area, employment zones, amenities, rail & bus stations, etc.,
Provide better services in the evenings, between the morning and evening rush hours, and on weekends, including Sunday.
Connecting Ireland will integrate bus and rail services at hub stations better into the future. This includes revising bus services when rail timetables are revised to ensure connections are maintained.